


how'd we get so far

by herwhiteknight



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Post-V5, apolobee, the bee apology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/herwhiteknight/pseuds/herwhiteknight
Summary: On the road to Atlas, a well-intentioned team attack finally nudges Blake and Yang into a conversation.





	how'd we get so far

It happens several days after they first start their trek to Atlas. Their first team attack. An ambush of Grimm, and Ruby says it - because strategically? It was the most obviously advantageous battle maneuver.

_“Bumblebee!”_

Nevermind that neither Blake nor Yang haven't said more than five words to each other over the course of their trip, nevermind that the tension in the air has been enough to nearly choke on, or that Blake and Yang have spent the entire time thus far walking as _far_ away from each other as possible - Ruby says it because it’s habit. Because strategically it makes sense. Because maybe, subconsciously, she _just_ wants her friends to acknowledge each other again. 

And it works - at least it seems to. They launch into their joint attack effortlessly, making the briefest of eye contact - and it’s nothing like the short, sharp, awkward glances they’ve shared while walking silently. Yang sails through the air, linked to Blake through her hold on Gambol Shroud, and she looks _effortless._

The whole thing looks effortless.

But when it’s over, when Yang lands with a triumphant thud with the defeat of the final Grimm, she drops Gambol Shroud - _Blake’s_ weapon - like it’s burned her, and she stalks off with barely a second glance over her shoulder.

“It’ll take some time,” Ruby tries to reassure Blake.

Blake just winces, gathering her weapon, ghosting her fingertips over the place Yang touched last, and follows after Yang, a dejected slump in her shoulders.

“I hate seeing them like this too,” Weiss murmurs, coming up behind Ruby and laying a hand on her shoulder. “But they’ll work things out.”

“I hope,” Ruby sighs, reaching up and covering Weiss’s hand with her own. “At least now we know that the team attack still works - that could’ve been bad.”

Weiss nods and squeezes Ruby’s shoulder. “Come on, we should join up with the others before they get too far ahead.”

Ruby doesn’t know it, but Yang’s thinking the exact same thing. “She could’ve gotten us killed,” she mutters as she reaches to steady her hand - only to find that it’s not shaking. _Why? Was it… because of Blake?_

“It wouldn’t be an issue if you two talked,” Weiss says, out of nowhere, and Yang is _really_ starting to hate how Weiss always makes things seem more rational and less difficult than things actually are. Even though it _is_ exactly that rational and simple. “You miss her, right?”

“More than _anything_ ,” Yang breathes out, before she can even think.

“Well,” Weiss tips her head towards Yang, regarding her. “I doubt we’ll see any more Grimm for awhile - not after how neatly you two handled those last three. So…”

Yang glances across the path through the bodies of their group and makes eye contact with Blake almost immediately. Even her _eyes_ hurt - that particular shade of gold that Yang spent so many nights trying to forget, but finding that she could remember them in the most vivid of details every morning upon waking. “Okay Weiss,” Yang mumbles, clenching a fist - one that’s not shaking - and pulling in a deep breath.

Blake seems to know exactly what’s going on before Yang even takes a step away from Weiss, slowing her steps and dropping back to match Yang’s position at the rear of the group. “Hey,” they both say, in near synchronicity. The sixth and seventh words they’ve both said to each other, respectively.

“So… we still work well together. As teammates,” Blake tries, catching Yang looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

“Yeah. Teammates,” Yang says back, but her tone isn’t exactly encouraging. It’s like there’s something else clogging the back of her throat, but her mouth won't open to let it out.

“Yang, I-” Blake hasn’t said anything other than her name, but Yang _still_ flinches like Blake’s physically slapped her, and that doesn’t make this any easier. But she forges on, because what if this just gets worse, and a mistake is made that costs them dearly? And Blake’s not about to let anything else happen to her team because of her, or her mistakes. Not anymore.

“I’m sorry, Yang,” she continues, “After what happened at Beacon and with Adam, I just thought… well, that you’d be safer without me - and you had Ruby and Weiss and everyone else to look after you and make sure you were-”

“That I was _what,_ Blake?” Yang hisses, her head snapping over to look at Blake, her eyes like fire. And Blake finds herself _missing_ them, missing that look. It’s stupid, because Yang’s anger and rage is directed at Blake and she should be unnerved - but then again, she knows that this is what she deserves. “That I was _alright_ ? Or that I was gonna be okay?! How could you know, how could you _possibly_ begin to guess how I would feel after losing a _part of myself?!_ You didn’t bother to stick around!”

Blake takes Yang’s words in silence, knowing that she deserves every single one of them. She’s thought much of the same over their time apart but.. it hits harder as it pours forth from Yang’s own mouth. “I thought you’d be safer without me - Adam, he… he only hurt you _because_ of me, I thought that if I left-”

“Didn’t you realize that I _needed_ you?”

The _pain_ in Yang’s words stops Blake in her tracks just a few steps in front, because Yang has frozen in her tracks, gaping like she hadn’t meant to admit to the weakness. But then she almost immediately sags because it’s _Blake_ and if there’s one person she trusts enough to fall apart, it’s Blake. It’s always _been_ Blake.

“You… you _left_ and somehow thought that I’d be okay with just Ruby and just Weiss and whoever else but…,” Yang looks away for a split second before stepping closer to Blake, “They aren’t _you_ Blake. I love them and I care about them, but I… _you_ were the one I needed. That I still need.”

The weight of Yang’s words settle somewhere deep in her lungs and it’s all she can do to keep herself from bursting into tears as she throws herself into Yang’s arms, feeling overwhelmed as every part of her body takes in the _feel_ of her once more. “I’m so sorry,” she chokes out, muffled by Yang’s hair as she buries her face in Yang’s shoulder. “I didn’t know - I wasn’t thinking, Adam he had just.. you have to understand, he said he’d destroy you, that he’d destroy everything I love - and the thought of losing you, I.. I couldn’t…”

Yang doesn’t respond at first, her body going rigid ever so slightly - but noticeable enough to Blake as she’s pressed this intimately against her body. Before Blake can pull away though, Yang’s returning the embrace, clinging to her tightly. Blake can feel the hard surfaces of Yang’s prosthetic pressing into her skin, her muscles - and it radiates warmth, somehow.

It radiates warmth all the way down to Blake’s heart, floods her venous system. _Heals_ her.

“I’ve missed you _so_ much,” Yang breathes, and the admission would’ve been out of nowhere, if Blake hadn’t felt it all the way through her bones, the truth of it all sinking in through her pores. “You… I can’t tell you just how much I..”

Blake feels Yang start to shake in her arms, her shoulders shuddering as her words lose what little control she has left. “I think I can guess,” is all Blake says, pulling Yang impossibly closer - trying to say what neither of them can say out loud. That she loves her, that she’s been lost without her, that she’s thought about her every single day since she left.

And that she never wants to leave her. Not ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever RWBY fic, so please be gentle! But any and all comments are absolutely appreciated! :) This definitely wont be the last - I have two other WIPs happening right now, and I want to post those soon too! Thanks so much, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Also the title comes from the song "Start Again" by RED and you should all listen to it because it is Entirely Bumbleby.


End file.
